off to lose one pound in six weeks and the anchor can't keep it together to give that story what it deserves. i, too, have lost it laughing a few times. let's move beyond that. i would like to point out there are many more examples of times when i have held it together against all odds. >> let's think about this. >> if you are the adventurous type or like to splurge or crap -- literally. >> subway hasn't commented on the lawsuits but did release a statement promising that it does want to give you all 12 inches. and i quote -- we have redoubled our efforts -- it is the christmas boobsy. it is a beer koozy with breasts.

a concept that debuted at the holiday wonder land that is hooters. >> don't eat my pants. [ laughter ] >> watched it like 30 times. >> of course, sometimes you have no choice and you have to let it all out. >> sorry. [ laughter ] come on. this is torture. [ laughter ] >> part two. i know you got it. [ laughter ] look, there will always be the stories that just get to you. sometimes after all the bad news a fat wet cat is just what the doctor ordered.

happening know r now, heavy snow falling. >> venezuela's hugo chavez takes a turn for the worst in his fight against cancer. out of hiding, one time murder suspect casey anthony in public. guns and race cars, the nra teaming up with nascar in a prime time publicity push. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." it is tuesday, march 5th. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started for you here. right now, millions in the midwest are waking up under several inches of snow thanks to this powerful winter storm. it's making its way across the country. it packed quite the punch. it is dumping snow and ice from

north dakota to ohio. and this was a scene in minneapolis as the late-season storm dumped seven to ten inches on the twin cities. severe weather warnings are in effect for much of the area. so now chicago bracing for what could be the biggest snowfall of the season. up to 11 inches by tonight. one to two inches an hour at times. so as a result, chicago's o'hare and midway airports can expect some serious delays and maybe even some flight cancellations there. jennifer delgado is live in chicago for us. karen mcguinness is monitoring the storm. we're going to start with jennifer who is in my hometown. good morning to you. how is it going there? >> reporter: yeah, good morning. it's cold in your hometown. right now we're on michigan avenue. you can see chicago river. i'm sure you're getting home sick right now and lake michigan. we don't have any snow out here right now. it's 50 miles away. really right to the west of

dekalb. expecting the snow to arrive around 9:00, 10:00. still that will be rush hour. that is going to lead to problems for motorists. as we walk this way, we kind of show you on the roadways, yeah, it's nice and dry. crews are already laid down a little bit of salt in anticipation of drivers out there. but it's not just the drivers. there have been hundreds of cancellations in anticipation of the storm. right now, there are no weather delays. conditions are going to go down hill very quickly. we're expecting anywhere from six to eight inches. some areas roughly ten. you see the wind kicking up. it's going to be gusting to 30. the winds are really going to be firing up later this evening, especially during evening rush. that is going to allow for the snow to blow around. that's going to limit visibility. when you combined that with the wind, of course, that's going to hamper travel as well. we're the only ones up here at 4:00 a.m. maybe a couple cab drivers and

coffee shops. overall, it's fairly quiet. it will start off light but heavy at times. snowfall rate, one to two inches. karen mcguinness is nice and warm in the studio. i have to tell you, ted roll in is coming in later. he'll get all that snow. >> severe weather is blamed for a major travel nightmare in colorado. blizzard conditions near some of vail's popular ski resorts caused two massive pileups including this 30-car wreck. can you barely see it the conditions are so bad. shutting down several miles of interstate 70. all parts of i-70 in colorado are now open this morning. we want to go straight to karen mcbegin nis atlanguinness right now. where is this storm headed? >> we've been watching this for the last couple days. our computer models saw it five

days out. the trek of this is going to be iffy. here's what we anticipate. as we heard from jennifer, a big swath from the western great lakes and into the midwest. portions of the ohio river valley. then making its way towards mid an lan tick. the -- atlantic. this is late in the season to be seeing snowfall totals, 10 to 14 inches. chicago, you could see the heaviest snowfall of the season. also in places like st. louis, that's another area that could get walloped once again. once this system makes it way towards the mid-atlantic all the way from chicago going towards washington, d.c. i think you'll be on the edge of that heavy amount. then we're not exactly sure where this storm is going to make its way. area of low pressure moves across the ohio valley. the backside is the portion where we'll see the gusty winds. you'll see very poor weather conditions in chicago at o'hare airport and midway.

you will be definitively affected as we go into the afternoon. after this point in time, the northeast still kind of a big question mark. john? back to you. >> karen maginnis, our thanks to you. >> you're talking about glass halfful, it's good for chicago. they need the snow. >> it's a head scratcher because it's so late. they need this moisture. at the end of the day, it's good news. jennifer delgado will tell us about that when we go back to her in chicago. developing story this morning in venezuela. the health of president hugo chavez is taking a turn for the worse. a government spokesman says chavez is fighting a severe new infection. he has trouble breathing and is in very delicate condition. the 58-year-old leader has been undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments and his long running battle with cancer. he's been ruling venezuela for 14 years. if he dies, chavez is on record saying venezuela's vice president should succeed him. but the opposition is likely to contest his appointment and call

for a special election. and in a few hours, the u.n. security council will meet to consider new sanctions against north cokorea in response to th nuclear tests last month. the regime's previous test, this has drawn widespread international condemnation. this time even china is onboard. the u.s. and beijing struck a deal to punish north korea for this test. an american cardinal in rome to help choose the next pope addresses the child sex abuse scandal head on. this is cardinal francis george, the archbishop of chicago. he said the next pontiff must commit to zero tolerance. the cardinals are meeting again this morning. we may learn today when the conclave will start. that's when they will elect the next pope. a dominican woman who said she had sex for money are robert menendez now says her story is false and that she never even met him. according to court documents, the 23-year-old woman claims she

was paid to make the whole story up but the daily caller first broke the scandal and says the reports on this story are getting their escorts mixed up. "the daily caller" claims this woman is not one of the two prostitutes that "the daily caller" originally interviewed last fall. after two years in hiding, casey anthony sighting. she emerged at a tampa bay courthouse. it's her first public appearance since acquitted of murdering her daughter caylee. she filed for bankruptcy in januariment she testified at the hearing. she has no job, no car, can't pay her rent. and depends on the kindness of those she's living with plus unsolicited destination and gift cards. she claims to be $800,000 in debt. the towel wars now. almost eight years to the day since she got out of prison, martha stewart returns to court this morning defending her company a breech of contract suit. she is scheduled to testify in the civil case pitting jcpenney

against macy's over their relationship with martha stewart living. at issue, whether macy's has the exclusive right to sell some of stewart's branded products. a neighborhood on edge this morning. a new sinkhole just three miles from the one that killed jeff bush near tampa opened up in a backyard. there was no structural damage to the homes. a fence dividing two homes was damaged. you're taking a look at that there. the family who lives there told a local station they want to move. >> air travellers are experiencing their first real impact in the forced spending cuts. passengers entering the u.s. are already facing delays in the nation's largest airports because the department of homeland security has initiated a hiring freeze. that means fewer checkpoint lanes and longer lines. on saturday morning, homeland security says passengers on 70 flights waited two to three hours just to clear customs. those forced spending cuts mean $113 million need to be sliced

from the national parks budgets. yellowstone national park announcing they'll delay the opening of five entrances by up to two weeks because of the impact of cuts on its snow removal operations. here's a novel idea, john. get everyone in the same room and don't let them leave until a deal is done. that's chris christie's solution to the forced spending cuts. the new jersey governor blasting the president for a lack of leadership and calling out congress for doing nothing to stop the so-called sequester. >> if the federal government can't cut one cent out of a dollar and not bring the economy and the country to its knees, then the government is in awful shape to begin with. unfortunately, the president has overplayed this in a major way. i think you see him starting to back that a little bit. planes are not going to be falling out of the sky. >> christie says the worst thing about the forced spending cuts is nobody's talking about spending on entitlements like medicare and social security. >> they tried the whole lock

everyone in a room until they reach a deal thing in 2011. did not work out so well. the national rivfle is partnering with nascar. the race will run in prime time. this is the first time that the nra sponsored a race in nascar's top race much the nascar team owner richard childress is a member of the nra directors. they usually celebrate by filling off six guns filled with blanks in victory lane. here is jimmy johnson after winning last year. just like the infamous bloody glove in the o.j. simpson trial, jodi arias' attorneys are offering up a finger defense on the stand. more from the courtroom coming up. and a 2,000 pound animal with teeth being tagged. cameras are rolling for a real

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welcome back. in a few hours, jodi arias returns to the witness stand at her murder trial in phoenix for her 15th day of testimony now. arias faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering her boyfriend travis alexander. the defense says it was self-defense. the trial has been filled with gruesome and graphic details about the murder and the couple's sex life. in court yesterday, it was more of the same. so we would like to warn you about some of the graphic content. here's randi kaye. >> reporter: after a damaging week on cross-examination, the first order of business for jodi arias' defense team is knocking down anything to premeditation. >> did you go to mr. alexander's home on june 4th with the intent on killing him? >> no, i didn't. >> reporter: another attempt to convince the jury she murdered

travis alexander in self-defense. even though she's changed her story three times. testimony quickly turned to arias' broken finger on her left hand. the prosecution tried to prove she hurt her finger while stabbing her ex-boyfriend dozens of times and drags his blody body around the house. to dispute that, arias' defense lawyer offered a show and tell. >> and that is the injury you incurred when you testified to having received whether mr. alexander was kicking you in the ribs and he ended up kicking your hand, correct? >> that's correct. >> reporter: arias says alexander broke her finger six months before the murder. the day after she caught him algdzly masturbating to a photo of a little boy. she claims he became increasingly violent after that. even though the couple had broken up, she and alexander continued to have sex. she wasn't the only one alexander was seeing. the stant painted her as jealous

and obsessive. but here in court, arias portrayed herself as unphased by this other woman. she even asked alexander about her. >> i didn't want to be confrontation. i just wanted to throw it out there and let him know it's okay. if you're dating someone, can you let me know. i'm going to be cool about that. >> reporter: again, the couple's sex life was on full display. the defense worked to convince the jury it was alexander, not arias, who was the more experienced sexually. listen to this recording of the couple's phone sex played in court. >> you cannot say i don't work that booty. >> we've had two and three hour sessions many times. >> reporter: all along, the prosecutor painted arias as the one who unleashed alexander's sexual appetite. the defense tried to counter that. >> so based on what you've told us in your testimony, before you met travis in your sexual history, you had anal sex no more than four times. is that accurate?

>> that's accurate. >> reporter: and what to make of arias' strange behavior at his memorial service? she left him a note telling him she loved him. this is two weeks after she slit his throat, nearly cutting his head off. >> well, i still had love for him, yes. and i was thinking now more in terms of eternity. >> reporter: arias told the court she still had deep love for alexander on june 4th, 2008, the day she killed him. randi kaye, cnn, phoenix, arizona. it is now 17 minutes after the hour. want to bring you up to speed on the top stories. christine romans is here. another winter storm smacks the midwest. snowfall is making travel pretty awful around minneapolis and other major midwestern cities this morning. chicago, good morning, chicago. brace yourself. up to ten inches could cover the metro area today making delays at o'hare and midway airports very likely. venezuelan president hugo

chavez fighting for his life this morning. he is battling a severe new infection and is in a very delicate condition. the 58-year-old chavez has been undergoing chemotherapy. a teacher in indiana has been suspended from his job while authorities investigate what may have been threats written on his blackboard. there they are. the school superintendent confirms a teacher in edison junior/senior high wrote a, you're i had yodz, b, the guns are loaded, c, care to try me? the teacher has been placed on paid leave during an investigation. queen elizabeth is back and resting at buckingham palace after being hospitalized for a night with a very nasty stomach virus. she was released yesterday. >> she looks good. it was the first time in the hospital in a decade. and she, of course, turns 87 tomorrow. >> there you go. marine scientists working off the coast of jacksonville,

florida, successfully tagged a great white. lidia is 14 1/2 feet long, she weighs 2,000 pounds. o-search captured, tagged and released her off the mouth of the st. james river. can you follow her movements online using the global scanning. >> they tag other sharks. mary lee is the most famous shark they tagged. they're able to track them as they get closer to shore. >> so now lidia is out there and tagged. very cool. >> coming to a beach near you. >> i hope not. coming up, call it economic envy. washington watches as china raises the bar in the race for world dominance. to follow, but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%...

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good morning to you. grab your cup of coffee, relax. we're minding your business. we've been watching as the dow is chasing that all time record high. all right. christine is looking at this at the very moment. >> all the major averages are set for a higher open. we're within record breaking levels any day now. dow, 38 points from the all time closing high. it will take more than that to reach the intraday high. very, very close. big news about china though. china is the world's second largest economy. but it's economic goals for the year are among the most ambitious of any major country.

china's annual parliamentary meeting tuesday opened with a bold forecast. china expects growth this year 7.5%, compare that in the u.s., maybe 2% to 3% in the first quarter if we're lucky. china also will insure that incomes keep pace with that growth. the government is going to promise to do that. that means jobs, lots of jobs. they expect to add more than nine million jobs in urban areas. and they want to keep the unemployment rate at or below 4.6%. china, of course, emerging economy. it is building lots of stuff, bridges, tunnels, railroads, hospitals, so this growth won't last forever. the national intelligence council will forecast that china will take over the u.s. by the year 2030 as the world's best economy. chinese authorities lay out their economic goals for the year which means the country will meet those goals and they have very set out national strategy. that strategy will set them to overtake the u.s. in due course.

>> 7.5% growth. >> and that's a bit of slowdown from recent years, as a matter of fact. >> thanks, christine. 24 minutes after the hour. one the leader of the free world, george bush now revealing kind of a different side of himself as a concerned father. the new personal details this morning and just really emotional letters from the former president. if you're leaving the houts right now, you can watch us any time on your desktop, even on your mobile phone. hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. what's the rush? what do 5% cash back atit cardrestaurants?you

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here it comes, the snowstorm that is threatening to bury chicago. that's a bit of an overstatement. it's now barrelling across the

midwest. >> ten inches. wanted in new york, a manhunt under way for the driver who took the lives of a young family and then just ran away. and it has happened again, folks. a sinkhole opens up not far from the one that swallowed up that florida man while he was alive. welcome back to "early start." nice to have you with us this morning. happening right now, a late season blast battering the midwest dump inches of snow and ice on the dakotas to indiana. minneapolis got 3.9 inches overnight. milwaukee can expect 3 to 5 inches. and right now chicago is bracing for up to four to eight inches expected by tonight. jennifer delgado is there. jennifer, what are meteorologists saying? this could be the biggest snowfall of the season in chicago. >> reporter:bsolutely. you know, they're actually down for the season.

they're at a deficit right around 8.5 for snowfall. now right now in chicago, you're not seeing any snow out there. but as we go through mid morning as well as late morning, we're going to start to see that snow kicking inment it's still about 50 miles to the west of chicago. very close to dekalb. what we're expecting is messy commute for our commuters out there during rush hour. the same goes for the evening. we'll be combining in winds of roughly 20 to 30. so that's going to reduce visibility. so that's going to hamper drivers on the roadways as well as air travelers. now, of course, they need some snow around here because it's been pretty pitiful if you think about it. we only picked up 4.8 inches just back on february the 26th. but what this is going to mean is a lot of snowfall, a lot of digging out. so that's going to be good news for those businesses that are selling some of those last minute shovels, getting a little salt out there. you can see i'm on magnificent mile. the commute is magnificent. it's 4:30 in the morning, of

course. traffic doesn't kick in for quite a while. >> always helpful for the commute if you get out at 4:00 a.m. >> she's in the middle of michigan avenue. this storm will first hit the dakotas and then chicago. as early as tonight, the nation's capital and surrounding areas could see five to nine inches of snow. it could mean more flight delays at d.c. area airports with a domino effect when it happens across the east coast. so let's go to karen macginis. what can we expect? >> we have good confidence that right around the nation's capital you'll see a moderate to heavy snow event. but across the midwest and great lakes, this could rank as the top five snow events for march in chicago. certainly going to rank up there. but for chicago, we move on for the mid-atlantic and just to the west of washington, d.c., certainly at some higher elevations you could see more than a foot of snowfall. right around the metropolitan area, running along interstate

95, four to eight inches of snowfall. gusty winds. but it's beyond this point in time that it is by the next 24 to 36 hours there is low confidence as to what this storm system is going to do. if it stays off the mid-atlantic coast, the bulk of this snow event is going to be in the mid-atlantic. extending into philadelphia. for new york, less so. but, if the storm system continues to wind its way across that northeastern coast, you could get hit with a very significant late winter storm. for chicago, four to eight inches expected there. i just took a look at the weather conditions and the snowfall totals out of minnesota. some areas have picked up as much as 11 inches there already. and more is to come. all right. you can see that we do have winter storm warnings out where you see this pink shaded area. mostly for western virginia, west virginia, portions of kentucky, and into maryland. but right around the metropolitan washington, d.c.

area, we think that that four to eight inches is going to be some of the common amounts we can expect. for the afternoon drive, chicago, watch out. slippery roads. and john, it looks like o'hare and midway could be greatly impacted for the afternoon. >> and that could be a problem for all of us. all right. thank you. 5:33. if it's tuesday, it must be doha. right now john kerry is in quatar. he is in the first overseas trip as secretary of state. he began the day in the united emirates. we'll have a one-on-one interview with him this morning. we'll bring that to you live hopefully at 8:00 a.m. >> it is weird to call him secretary of state. >> takes a minute to get used to. a manhunt is under way in new york city right now. police are searching for the suspect in a hit-and-run crash that claimed the lives of two parents and their newborn baby.

police are looking for 44-year-old julio hasavelo. expected parents nathan and racy glober were killed while en route to the hospital. their baby boy was delivered after his mother's death. but died yesterday from his injuries. they say vicious bullying killed their son. heartbreak for a pennsylvania family. mourning the loss of a son and big brother who was only in the sixth braid. bailey o'neal says a schoolyard bully punched him in the face last month breaking his nose and causing a concussion. doctors checked him out and released him. then he started having violent unstoppable seizures, he was taken off life support sunday, the day after his 12th birthday. >> it's the toughest decision i ever made in my life. no parent wants to make that decision. i don't have anyone to call me daddy anymore.

you know? no more phone calls from him. no more hanging out. no one to say daddy, you know? it's -- this is the worst feeling. >> no one to call me daddy. that's heartbreaking. the father of bailey's bully told a local tv station that his son isn't the monster that everyone is trying to make him out to be. cameras recorded the fight and police right now are investigating. the charges getting more severe. 12 flour a & m university students now face manslaughter charges for the 2011 hazing death of the drum major robert champion jr. ten of them had been previously charged with felony hazing resulting in death. they were notified yesterday that the charges were upgraded to manslaughter. they face a maximum 15-year sentence if they're convicted. a new vantage point of that sinkhole near tampa. demolition crews exposing what is left of the room after the sinkhole opened up under jeff

bush's bed. he is presumed dead after the hole swallowed him up. crews stopped on several occasions to return personal effects to the family like a bible, family portrait before tearing down the walls. >> his brother desperately tried to save his life. such a tragic story. a second sinkhole has that neighborhood really on edge. it opened up in a backyard yesterday. there was no structural damage to the homes though a fence dividing two homes was damaged. the family who lives there was home at the time. they told the local station that they're really shaken up and they would like to move now. the senate intelligence committee votes this afternoon on the nomination of john brennan to be the next director of the cia. he is expected to win approval in committee. they want a full senate vote this week but republicans are demanding more answers about last year's attack on the attack on benghazi. the white house responding to former nba star dennis rodman's attempt at basketball

diplomacy. rodman returned from recent tour of north korea while a message -- with a message for president obama perfect north korean leader. the message, "call me." here's what white house spokesman jay carney and dan rather had to say about it. >> the united states has direct channels of communications with the dprk. instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country, they should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been staerrved, impri n imprisoned and denied human rights. >> with dennis rodman, look, i've been to goat ropings and space shots. i've been in antarctica and deepest africa. i've never seen anything quite like this. >> not even a goat roping site. >> rodman is taking some heat from the white house and from journalists like rather. he did get a lot closer to kim john un than most diplomats have ever donement they shared court side seats at a basketball game in north korea.

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find opportunities, and create a plan that's best suited for you. bny mellon. an american cardinal is addressing the sex abuse scandal head on. he says commit to zero tolerance. >> whoever is elected pope, he governs by law. we all do, not by whim or desire on our part. we're governed by law if all particulars. the clutch is not a tyranny. so he obviously has to accept the universal code of the church now which is zero tolerance for anyone who has ever abused a minor child. >> that is chicago's archbishop cardinal george. the cardinals are meeting again this morning and we're waiting

to see whether we're going to find out today when the conclave will start. cnn analyst and correspondent for the national catholic reporter is in rome. he's joining us this morningment so these are preconclave meetings. do we know what is being discussed in these meetings. >> reporter: hi. well, what we know, we know in general what the topic here is. in general, the topic includes a kind of state of the church conversation. what are the issues they're facing? and also what qualities does the next pope need to have and ultimately, of course, who is that guy going to be? in the meantime, there is one other bit of business which is they have to set a date for this conclave. we do not expect them to do that today because there is at least one of those 115 cardinal electorates who will vote for the next pope who is not yet here, not getting in until tomorrow morning. the rules are they can't make that decision until everyone is here. so it will probably be before tomorrow before we get that date. >> john, do we have any insight into what are the most important factors as they see them in

picking a new pope? >> reporter: i think we do. one of the remarkable things about this conclave as opposed to 2005, last time the cardinals reached a gentleman' agreement. they weren't going to talk to the media. it was all guesswork. this time they're talking much more openly. i think we do have a sense of what's on the checklist. three things. one, they want a pope with a global vision who can embrace the 1.2 billion catholics in the world, two-thirds of them living outside the west. second, they want the secular word for a salesman. someone who can move the catholic product so to speak and a crowded lifestyle marketplace. and third, they want a governor, somebody who can get the ship back on course beginning with reform of the vatican bureaucracy. and within that, somebody who can move the ball in terms of cleaning up the damage of the child sex abuse scandals. >> john, my last question to you, have they thought about age? do you think they're looking for somebody young or with the wisdom of an elderly? well, not elderly. you can't be over a certain age,

right? >> actually, he can be as old as they want. but typically it works like this. you don't want a pope that is too long so you don't elect someone who is in their mid 50s. you don't want one that is too short so you don't want to elect someone in their 70s or 80s. usually they split the difference. they're looking for somebody in the 60, 65 age range. if they can find somebody that ticks off all the items on the checklist, they'll take him no matter how old he is. >> john allen, thank you very much. i guess it's that 84 voting in the conclave, right? that is the cut off age. >> below 80 to vote. whitney houston's private fbi file now a matter of public record. officials released her 128-page file from the '80s and '90s. it reveals three separate allegations, one an extortion attempt and others by threatening letters from fans. the fbi did not file charges in

any of these cases. we're getting a look between george herbert walker bush and his sons. coming to bookstore shelves today, "all the best: george bush, my life and letters and writings" some of the heartbreaking letters written by the 41st president like this one to a days after hurricane katrina as his son received public outrage. my heart went out to him. here's a guy who cares deeply. who wants every possible resource of the federal government brought in to bear to help people yet he is being roundly accused of not giving a damn. the critics do not know what is in 43's heart. how deeply he feels about the hurt, the anguish sh the losses affecting so many people, most of them poor." >> i spent a lot of time covering george w. bush and the relationship they have.

the relationship he has with all their children,incredibly special. you know, it's a big crying family when they talk about their relationshipsment but there's a lot of respect there. >> it's great to get a glimpse into that. >> for more on bush's 41's new book, keep i right here on cnn this morning. d doug wee is going to join soledad o'brien coming up. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up.

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welcome back. 49 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. >> good morning. a lot going onment a late season snowstorm has blanketed parts of the dakotas. it's extending wrath to cities from minneapolis to chicago this

morning. up to 11 inches is expected there. and threatening serious travel delays out of lovely o'hare international. the nation's capital is next. it could see five to nine inches of white by tonight. following new developments on possible sanctions against north korea in response to its nuclear tests last month. the u.n. security council is set to meet in a few hours to discuss a draft resolution reportedly agreed to by the u.s. and china. in the past, china blocked action against its ally. it's the third time north korea conducted a nuclear test. no word from dennis rodman on how to proceed from here. changing of the guard in china. the national people's congress has convened in beijing, a new vice president premier will be chosen to complete china's once in a decade transition. chinese leader ping will assume the title of state president. overland college in ohio investigating hate related events on campus after a student reported seeing a person wearing what appeared to be a ku klux

klan hood. this follows a string of recent hate-related incidents there. 15 in the last month alone. classes were suspended monday so students, faculty and staff members could gather in small groups to discuss racism. they stole a luxury yacht, stacked it with pizza and beer and then hit a snag. an unusual standoff along the shore of pacifica, california. two men and a woman stole an 82-foot luxury sail boat from california and packed it with those supplies before they baechd t beached 20 miles south. they refused to surrender for hours but were finally pulls off the boat and arrested. among the most bizarre stories out of california. >> john actually volunteered to go and take care of the day. >> i can guard the pizza and beer. >> so you think you have a rough commute? you do if you're one of the 600,000 americans that have to endure a mega commute five times a week. new data shows that 600,000 full

time workers in the u.s. commute at least 90 minutes and 50 miles to work. that is each way, folks. the national average is 25.5 minutes and 4.3% of the workforce do not commute. 4.3% work from home because of that trend. it takes the typical worker no longer to get to work in 2011 than it did in 2000. >> it's the good news about working this crazy schedule, very short commute times. >> not a lot of traffic at 2:00 a.m. he has a mistake but not christian bail's physique. police trying to find out the identity of a real life batman who nabbed a suspected criminal. >> he looks okay. >> yes, he z he looks fabulous. we're back in a moment.

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welcome back to "early start." taking a look at the top cnn trends. 48 years after his death, jimi hendrix new album hits shelves today. he still has the sound that sets him apart. "people, hell and angels" includes 14 tracks. the first single from the album already shot to number one on billboard's hot singles chart. >> i'm very excited for that. all right. holy muffin top, batman. check out this video. authorities in britain were totally baffled when they say a real life super hero, a man dressed in a full batman outfit,

fills it out nicely. he showed up to the station to drop off a suspect wanted in a burglar. they mentioned the batman in the official press release on the incident. but they say his identity remains unknown. that's bruce wayne, guys. sorry. >> wow. really? >> his identity is unknown. to check out other cnn top trends, head to cnn.com/trends. >> now here is conan o'brien from last night. >> mit romney finally surfaced. he finally surfaced and spoke to the media. in his first interview since losing the election, mitt romney said it kills him to not be in the white house. he said he'll always think of it has the one house he couldn't buy. sad. yeah. in the same interview, in the same interview ann romney blamed the media for her husband mitt romney's defeat. she's saying it's the media's fault. it's not fair.

they kept reporting exactly what he said. >> the search for a pope has begun. you excited about this? true story. the cardinals are all starting to gather in rome right now. yeah. it's like a star trek convention but less celibate. president obama has nominated walmart executive sylvia borell to be the budget director. yeah. president said he's excited by her experience at walmart. she is excited to be making more than $9.85 per hour. good stuff. >> "early start" continues right now. heavy snow falling right now as a winter storm rolls through the upper midwest for chicago and washington, d.c. right in the path. plan for trouble. airport cancellations and widespread effects across the

country. hugo chavez takes a turn for the worse in his fight for cancer. >> guns and race cars, the nra teams up with nascar in a prime time publicity push. call it the towel trial. martha stewart headed back to court today in middle of a fight between two corporate giants. >> towels and sheets. >> that's true. good morning. welcome to "early start." it is tuesday, march 5th. it is 6:00 in the east right now. and we're going to begin with weather. right now millions of people in the midwest either bracing for or already dealing with several inches of snow. it is all thanks to this powerful winter storm making its way east. it's already creating a mess dumping snow and ice from north dakota to ohio. we'll look at the scene right now in minneapolis. this late season storm dumped seven to ten inches around the twin cities. severe weather warnings are still in effect for much of that area. jennifer delgado is in chicago right now where she's area.

jennifer delgado is in chicago where she is in wait right now, could see some of the biggest snowfall of the entire season. janet is in d.c. and kara mcginnis moderating the storm from the cnn weather center. jennifer, we'll start with you in chicago. what do things look like there? >> no snow out here. it's still roughly about 50 miles away from chicago. we're expecting the snow to come mid morning, late morning. and it's going to be heavy at times. one to two inches, and then later into the evening, it's going to be a mess out here. so it's quiet now, but don't let that deceive you. right now you can see the chicago river. here's the magnificent mile. i'm telling you right now it's cold out here. the windchill is like 23 degrees is what it feels like. my photographer steve says this isn't cold. i feel like this is pretty brutal out here. we're expecting anywhere between six to eight inches of snowfall. some of these locations could

potentially get ten inches of snowfall. keep in mind, chicago, the metro area, northern parts of illinois, they're still in an abnormal as well as moderate drought, so they do need the snowfall and they're below average for the surgery right around 8.5 inches. so the snowfall is certainly going to help. it's been rather bleak when you talk about the snow. roadways right now are nice and clear. i know the crews have been now getting things ready. once we get into rush hour, we could start to see conditions going downhill because we're also expecting those winds to gust up to about 30 miles per hour. that's going to reduce visibility. of course, that is going to hamper travel. we already know hundreds of flights have been cancelled out of o'hare as well as midway. so let the fun begin, and i'm getting ready to run back into the truck and warm right up. >> that's right. atlanta resident in chicago right now where this storm is coming. >> i was about to call her a wuss for complaining about the

cold. the nation's capital will get hit by the storm as well. they could see up to nine inches of snow. the d.c. suburb of alexandria, virginia, is prepared to deploy 4,000 trucks and snowplows. shannon is there live. how are they getting ready? that sounds like quite a fleet. >> reporter: yeah, quite a fleet, and they're getting ready by getting the plants together to prepare for the storm. they've even got a name for it. snowquester. we're right now at one of the super size salt domes here in northern virginia. it's going to give you a sense of how massive this thing is right here. look up to the top and tell me that about 6,000 tons of salt in this dome alone. i've been kind of playing with a little bit. it's basically what you would expect to see on your typical highway or on your local street or what have you, but right on 4

495, the capital beltway. you basically have these huge front loaders. the front loaders will be coming in from this direction right here with the huge big blades. they'll scoop up some of the salt right here in this dome and they'll basically take that salt over to some trucks, load it just beyond my shoulder over here. each one of those trucks has a capacity of about 11 tons of salt so you'll basically see those front loaders come in and out all morning and basically some of the spokesmen -- one of the spokesmen that we spoke with basically said that they'll be ready and deploy them on the interstates. >> they will be in place as soon as this storm hits. they'll be prestaged on interstates and major roads, including subdivisions throughout northern virginia. >> reporter: v-dot says they'll be ready for whatever happens. >> i've got to tell you, judging from where you are, it looks like they are well-prepared.

>> i promise you, when it snows there, the city will still shut down. it's the law of nature in washington, d.c. four minutes after the hour. interstate 40 in colorado has reopened this morning after severe weather out there made a huge mess of that highway. blizzard conditions near some of vail's popular ski resorts caused two massive pile-ups. you can barely see through the snow. 30-car wreck shutting down several miles of i-70. we want to go to karen mcginnis. enough snow already. but where is it going to go? where is spring? give us some reason for hope here. >> well, there is not definitive confidence as to where the system is going to head. but i will tell you that for chicago, you may remember, chicago for 335 days, they didn't see any measurable snowfall and now they see these back-to-back storm systems. it is good because they do need the moisture.

48 inches, that's what some of the amounts are expected. washington, d.c., it may shut down. may or may not. because it does look like right around the metro d.c. area, we could see three to seven, three to eight inches of snowfall. but well to the west, this is where we're looking at significantly heavier amounts. but this isn't going to happen until overnight and going into wednesday. then you'll start to see the wind really pick up. here's some of the snowfall totals we've already seen. you can see it's north dakota. you would expect some significant snowfall expected there. but yeah, 12 inches, beginning of march. not that unusual but definitely delays spring just a little bit. why is this not a definitive forecast? the computer models have been all over the place. they have been. actually, two systems coming together for the mid-atlantic, and if it travels up the eastern seaboard, new york, boston, you're in on the game, too. >> all right, our thanks to you

in atlanta right now. a lot of the country watching that storm. >> absolutely. thank you. five minutes past the hour. big story developing right now in venezuela. the health of president hugo chavez taking a turn for the worst. a government spokesman saying chavez is battling a severe new infection and his condition now is being called very delicate. shasta darlington is live from venezuela this morning. what do you know? >> reporter: this announcement was terse and extraordinarily bleak. i think that's what really hit people. they haven't heard this kind of bleak announcement almost since he fell ill. he went to cuba for cancer surgery on december 11th, and of course, they haven't seen him in public since then. so for many people, it didn't come as a surprise, especially critics who have stepped up demands in recent days to know just what condition the president is in, if he's really leading the country, and if he'll ever be able to fully

assume the presidentsy. on the other ha -- presidency. on the other hand, the supporters, chavez enjoys a religious-like fervor following. a lot of those people believe that he will be cured, that he will come back. 57% of venezuelans thought that chavez would recover. so this kind of news, this announcement will indeed be bad news for them. and in some ways, it paves the way for what could come next, either the death of chavez or an announcement that he won't be able to assume the presidency. >> now, we know that when he was in ailing health, that he left his vice president basically in charge saying that he would be a great leader, but there is really no successor that he has mentored, so what happens if he dies? >> reporter: exactly as you say, the idea is that his vice president is ahead in the polls if they were to hold elections today. if he dies, they have to hold elections within 30 days. he is very likely to win those elections, but he doesn't have

the following that chavez has. a lot of people feel that he's even more hardlined trying to get that kind of support. >> it's that charisma they say that he's lacking. thank you so much for that report. eight minutes after the hour right now. u.n. sanctions against north korea now fortified with china. the u.n. security council will meet to consider a resolution punishing north korea for last month's nuclear tests. this has drawn widespread international condemnation. this time even from china, which has blocked action in the past. the u.s. and china have reportedly agreed of wording of a draft resolution this time for new sanctions. and the cardinals are meeting again this morning. we may learn today when the conclave will start. this is an american cardinal in rome, heading the scandal head-on. he said the next pontiff must commit to zero tolerance. >> so whoever is elected pope, he governs by law.

we all do, not by whim or desire on our part. so we're governed by law in all particulars. the church is not a tyranny. so he obviously has to accept the universal code of the church now, which is zero tolerance for anyone who has ever abused a minor child. >> a vatican spokesman says a new pope could be in place in the next ten days. a new jersey woman now says her story is false and that she never even met him. according to court documents, the 23-year-old claims she was paid to make the whole story up. but the daily caller says reports on this story are getting their escorts mixed up. the daily caller claims this woman is not one of the two prostitutes they originally interviewed for their expose last fall. this is confusing, i have the say. so out of hiding and back into court, casey anthony making her

first public appearance since being acquitted of murdering her daughter caylee nearly two years ago. anthony claims to be $800,000 in debt. at a bankruptcy hearing in tampa, anthony testified she has no car, lives on the kindness of those she's living with. the color coordinated towel and sheet set wars. martha stewart expected to testify in a couple of hours in a civil case pitting macy's against jp penny over their relationship with martha stewart living on the media. an issue, whether stewart's company broke an agreement with macy's by signing a $500 million deal to sell housewares at penney locations. >> big business there. the national rifle association is getting into nascar. it is sponsoring the upcoming sprint cup race at the texas motor speedway. the nra 500 will run saturday, april 13th. this is the first time the nra

has sponsored a race in nascar's top series. richard childress is a member of the nra's board of directors. sprint cup winners at the texas motor speedway usually celebrate by firing off six guns filled with blanks in victory lane. here's a picture of jimmie johnson doing it when he won last year. >> it sounds like shades of the infamous bloody glove. lawyers for jodi arias offering up a finger defense on the stand. more from the courtroom coming up. drones flying secret missions over the united states. you'll hear one pilot's sky high encounter captured in realtime. . now you can. with stayfree ultra thins. flexible layers move with your body while thermocontrol wicks moisture away. keep moving. stayfree. without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese.

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welcome back to "early start." when the jodi arias murder trial resumes in just a few hours, it will be day 15 of the defendant's testimony. arias could get the death penalty if the jury convicts her of murdering her lover, travis alexander. she claims it was self-defense. day 15 was filled with more of what we have been hearing during this trial, gruesome and graphic details about the murder and the couple's sex life. so we want to warn you, some of the content here is graphic. here's cnn's randi kaye.

>> after a damaging week on cross-examination, the first order of business for jodi arias's defense team was knocking down any hint at premeditation. >> did you go to mr. alexander's home on june 4th with the intent on killing him? >> no, i didn't. >> another attempt to convince the jury she murdered travis alexander in self-defense. even though she's changed her story three times. testimony quickly turned to arias's broken finger on her left hand. the prosecution has tried to prove she hurt her finger while stabbing her ex-boyfriend dozens of times, and dragging his bloodied body around the house. to dispute that, arias's defense lawyer offered a show and tell. >> and that is the injury you incured when you testified to having received when mr. alexander was kicking you in the ribs and he ended up kicking your hand, correct? >> that's correct. >> reporter: arias says alexander broke her finger six months before the murder.

the day after she caught him allegedly masturbating to a photo of a little boy. she claims he became increasingly violent after that. even though the couple had broken up, arias says she and alexander continued to have sex, but she wasn't the only one alexander was seeing. now the state has painted her as jealous and obsessive, but here in court, arias portrayed herself as unfazed by this other woman. she even asked alexander about her. >> i didn't want to be confrontational. i wanted to just throw it out there and let him know it's okay, if you're dating someone, you can let me know, i'm going to be cool about that. >> reporter: again, the couple's sex life was on full display. the defense worked to convince the jury it was alexander, not arias, who was the more experienced sexually. listen to this recording of the couple's phone sex played in court. >> you cannot say i don't work that booty. we had two and three-hour sessions. >> reporter: all along, the computer has painted arias as

the one who unleashed alexander's sexual appetite. the defense tried to counter that. >> so based on what you've told us in your testimony, before you met travis in your sexual history, you would have had anal sex no more than four times. is that accurate? >> that's accurate. >> reporter: and what to make of arias's strange behavior at alexander's memorial service. she left him a note shown in court telling him she loved him. remember, this was less than two weeks after she slit his throat, nearly cutting his head off. >> well, i still have love for him, yes. and i was thinking now more in terms of eternity. >> reporter: arias told the court she still had deep love for alexander on june 4th, 2008, the day she killed him. randi kaye, cnn, phoenix, arizona. >> our thanks to randi. the deep spending cuts that kicked in last week are already costing you time.

>> customs and border patrol reported longer lines at major points of entry over the weekend due to a reduction in the overtime staff. the tsa and faa are warning travelers this is only the beginning. >> christine romans will tell you how this will affect you and your travel plans in this edition of "road warriors." >> so far it's been international travelers waiting to go through customs. lines at new york's jfk and miami international spiked this weird, and the officials are blaming a reduction in the overtime staff due to sequestration, those forced budget cuts. they say waits are likely to worsen as hiring freezes go into effect. it could also affect the tsa with up to a thousand vacancies by memorial day. fewer staff means longer security lines at major airports. janet napolitano predicts waits may increase up to 200%. here's her advice to fliers. >> look, people, i don't mean to scare, i mean to inform.

if you're traveling, get to the airport earlier than you otherwise would. there's only so much we can do with personnel. >> another transport authority feeling the sting, the faa. it has announced plans to close 168 air traffic control towers at small and medium sized airports by april 1st and potentially more throughout the year if sequestration, these budget cuts stay. closure will affect around 5.8% of all commercial air traffic as well as considerably many more business and private flights from some of those smaller airports. it's not all doom and gloom, though. amtrak says its service won't be affected and credits good budget management for keeping the company from getting derailed by these cuts. but i will say the issue here when you look at some of these flights coming into miami this weekend, some coming into jfk, getting through customs, it was two and three-hour delays, much more than is usual at this time of the year. so i guess pack your patience, because this is the way it's going to be until this is sorted

out. >> amtrak is doing fine, but that does not help international travelers. you can't take the train from new york to new england. >> you can't? >> no. bummer. the martha stewart trial nearly ten years ago. it was a media sensation. in just a couple hours, she is back in court. a closer look at the case coming up. the boys used double miles from their capital one venture card to fly home for the big family reunion. you must be garth's father? hello. mother. mother! traveling is easy with the venture card because you can fly any airline anytime. two words. double miles! this guy can act. wanna play dodge rock? oh, you guys! and with double miles you can actually use, you never miss the fun. beard growing contest and go! ♪ i win!

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that's it. 38 points. if the dow can gain more than that this morning, the dow will have a record high. >> some good indications that perhaps it may happen. >> look, all three of the averages are up in pre-market trading. futures are indicating a higher open. so it's a psychological milestone. but one solid day of gains and essentially we are there. the broader s&p is a bit further from its high. sam stovall put out actually kind of a warning yesterday that we might have very little time to celebrate and that stocks could drop right after hitting new highs. the s&p 500 is up nearly 40% since it hit the lows in october of 2011. and he said to us yesterday we may be in for a bumpy ride. he said it's wise to fasten your safety belt when you set a high in the market. meantime, we're watching a really interesting testimony today from martha stewart. the domestic diva. the peddler of perfection. >> oh wow, do another one. >> i can't think of one. this was exactly eight years

yesterday when she came out of prison for lying about a stock. she was convicted about lying about a stock sale in a drug company. and she came back and it was a company called macy's that gave her a real shot at rebuilding her brand and going from ex-convict back to martha stewart, a brand, a brand that is about good things and clean and light and bright. >> organized. >> and organized. we're about to see her messy business dealings in court. she's being sued by macy's for going behind their back to do another deal with jcpenney to sell her protects in a jcpenney store, particularly the home goods products, which macy's believes it has exclusive rights to. terry lundgren said when martha stewart called him in 2011 and said she was going to do a deal with jcpenney, he felt stick to his stomach and he hung up the phone with his friend and business partner and has not spoken since.

meanwhile, his products are selling in his stores and he's profiting from her. we will hear from her on the stand today and she's going to -- and her company has told us this, they have a contractual loophole that allows her to sell her home goods also in jcpenney. two household names and a brand. a very top female brand all in court today. >> and she's ventured to staples recently, too. >> her products in a lot of different places. at issue here is sheets and linens and things like that in two competitors at the same thing. >> what's the thing we need to know about your money? >> pack your patience. the bite from the sequestrations starting to reveal themselves the next couple days. already we told you passengers at jfk and miami spending more time in customs lines. bring your patience because it won't just be customs travelers. we're expecting across the travelsphere you'll feel this as the furloughs start going out.

>> good luck with that patience thing. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. most people spot a shark and they high tail out of the way, right? you would, berman. not this crew. coming up, cameras capture the tagging of a 2,000-pound beast with enormous teeth. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down. what's your plan? ishares. low cost and tax efficient. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

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here it comes. the snowstorm that's threatening to sock chicago, barreling across the upper midwest bringing threats of massive travel delays across the entire country. and it's happened again. a sinkhole opens up not far from the one that opened up that florida man alive. waiting for word out of rome. catholic cardinals could reveal within the hour details of the conclave to pick the next pope. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it is tuesday, march 5th. it's pretty late in the season, but right now a winter storm is rolling through the midwest. it's managed to already dump inches of ice and snow on major metropolitan areas from the dakotas to indiana. minneapolis got 3.9 inches overnight. milwaukee can expect between two and five inches. indianapolis can get three to five inches today. and right now, chicago is bracing for up to six to eight inches, which is expected by tonight. jennifer delgado is live in the windy city.

are they ready for what meteorologists predict is the biggest snowfall of the season in march? >> absolutely. you know, one of these big storms have been noun to happen in march. for chicago's top ten, three of those happened in march. one of those was march 25th and 26th. you asked if officials are preparing for this. you can look down on the sidewalk. in the last hour or so, they've put down more of the salt to help with some of the commuters and people who are walking. that's a good idea, because of course, later into mid morning, late morning, we're expecting the snow to pick up. i've been checking the radar. it still looks like it's around 9:00 initially. we might see mixed precipitation and changing over to snow. right now as i can show you on the magnificent mile, it looks nice and quiet. the roadways are clear, but clears are going to have a tough time as we're going to see the

winds picking up later into the afternoon and evening. and that's going to be leading to that blowing snow and the snowfall rate between one and two inches. of course, that's going to be hard for crews at times to go out and clean up the road. we do have a winter storm warning in place that starts at 9:00 a.m. and it will go until midnight tonight. so crews are ready, residents are ready. they're out and about. but certainly as we get into some of that rush hour travel, that's when we're going to lead to some more of those problems. and of course, air travel. hundreds of flights have been cancelled out of o'hare as well as midway. they need this snow here because they are still in a drought in chicago. so the snow will be welcome. >> well, kind of welcome. all right, jennifer. thank you very much. as early as tonight, washington, d.c. and surrounding areas could also see five to nine inches of snow and could affect many of the country's airports. we're going to get straight to karen maginnis. what can we expect from this?

>> i know that you've been paying a lot of attention to this. in washington, d.c., they are way behind what they would normally see, which is about 14 inches. so for tomorrow, it does look like right around that metropolitan d.c. area in northern virginia, portions of maryland, we could see school closures. the roads are going to be very dangerous. but the bulk of the snow should be to the west of washington, d.c. generally speaking, heavier snowfall totals about a thousand feet and above. but beyond then, the confidence in what happens with this area of low pressure is fairly low. because we take it out towards the mid-atlantic. this is actually kind of a compilation of two weather systems. going to develop off the mid-atlantic coast, and from there, computer models are all over the place. we know later on this afternoon where we were watching jennifer, snowfall totals four to eight inches. it is a late season snow and they could see one of their top

five march snowfalls. it does come late in the season. the last time they saw anything like this was back in 1970. as i mentioned, for western washington, looks like that's the heaviest snowfall from there. just can't really tell right now. >> we'll have to wait. our thanks to you. 35 minutes past the hour. right now, john kerry's maiden voyage as secretary of state taking him to qatar this morning. he arrived overnight in doha. kerry's day began in abu dhabi. also stops in egypt and saudi arabia. we will have a one-on-one interview with kerry this morning. we may learn today when the conclave will start. but before that decision happens, an american cardinal in rome to help choose the next pope is addressing the child sex abuse scandal. cardinal francis george said the next pontiff must commit to "zero tolerance." and the search is on in new york city right now. police are looking for the

suspect in a hit-and-run crash that claimed the lives of two parents and their newborn son. police are now looking for 44-year-old julio acevedo. expectant parents, both 21, were killed while en route to the hospital early sunday morning. their baby boy was delivered after his mother's death, but he sadly died from his injuries. this afternoon, the senate intelligence committee votes on the nomination of john brennan to be the next cia director. he is expected to win approval in committee. harry reid wants a full senate vote later this week, but republicans are demanding more answers about last year's terrorist attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. they are threatening to hold up the process. the white house isn't impressed with dennis rodman's attempt at basketball diplomacy. rodman returned from a recent tour of north korea with a message for president obama from

north korean leader kim jong-un. the message, "call me." here's what jay carney and lauraling hlaura ling had to say about this. >> instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country, the north korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned and denied their human rights. >> the fact that he was a guest of kim jong-un who was clearly wining and dining him and showing him the best that pyongyang had to offer, you know, i wasn't exactly shocked by it, let's say. it's dennis rodman, after all. >> rodman may be taking a beating from the white house, but he did get a lot closer to kim jong-un than most u.s. diplomats ever have. when the two sat court side at a basketball game in north korea. they can open up without warning.

we're talking about these awful sinkholes. last week a man fell in claiming his life. coming up, our cameras go underground to take you inside a real sinkhole. plus, the strange standoff at sea over a stolen yacht that is packed with pizza and beer. berman to the rescue? i'm not . i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. so i used my citi thankyou card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply.

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welcome back to "early start," everyone. we are following developing weather warnings for you this morning. a powerful winter storm bearing down on the midwest has already made a morning commute mess in minneapolis. >> the twin cities saw heavy snowfall overnight. a winter weathered a v ed a via

in effect. live in minneapolis this morning, how bad is it there? >> reporter: well, you can see it's still snowing. we have about six inches on the ground currently and it's supposed to continue to keep snowing until about noon today. we could pick up ten inches to a foot of snow. so things are pretty messy out here. those drivers having a pretty tricky commute. snowplows worked overnight and will be on 12-hour shifts but it's still pretty slippery out there. we have been getting these one to three-inch snowfalls over the last three weeks or so. so things are starting to pile up. also want to show you it's that really heavy, thick snow so it gets really strenuous for people that may not have been out shoveling throughout that winter. they call that that heart attack snow, so be careful if you're in the midwest and getting this heavy, chicago snow. it's just sitting over the top of us for much of the day today. did some flight checks. flights from here to chicago cancelled because that's where the storm is headed next. >> yeah, we've been talking about that all morning. that's how people are going to

be seriously affected with a major hub cancelling so many flights. 42 minutes after the hour. soledad o'brien with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> we're talking about hugo chavez fighting a new infection in his fight against cancer. we'll update you with what's happening. it's been called a fragile situation. then the u.n. security council will meet today, trying to consider new sanctions against north korea in response to the recent nuclear test. what will those sanctions literally be? we'll talk about that with congressman ed royce. hunkie actor matthew fox is going to talk to us about his new movie "emperor." it's a gripping story about the events after world war ii. we'll talk about that. then it's the shot scene around the world. we were discussing this

yesterday. >> seriously? >> yes, this guy right here. he shot that 60-foot shot, beat the buzzer, helped his high school team win the sectional championship. he'll join us to talk about what was going through his mind when he made that shot. >> i'm going to stick around. i want to meet that young man. i hear he's also an excellent football player. >> he's a tremendous athlete and a super nice guy. >> thank you very much. a new vantage point, that giant deadly sinkhole near tampa. demolition crews exposing what's left of the room after that sinkhole opened up under 37-year-old jeff bush's bed. he is presumed dead now after the hole swallowed him up. his brother desperately tried to save him. crews stopped on several occasions to return personal effects to the bush family like a bible and a family portrait before they had to tear down the walls. >> and a second sinkhole just three miles away has that enabled on edge. it opened up in a backyard yesterday. there was no structural damage to homes, though a fence

dividing two homes was damaged. the family who lives there was at home at the time. they say they're shaken up now and they want to move. >> so two sinkholes both in florida within a few miles of one another. are they coincidence or more common than we actually think and know? david mattingly takes a closer look at sinkholes from the inside. >> reporter: it's just a few short steps down to an incredible underground sight. >> this was the original cavity that eventually collapsed in. >> reporter: a massive sinkhole carved out of solid limestone by drops of water. so this is what a sinkhole looks like from the inside. >> from the inside, yes, before you fill it up with the sand and dirt. >> reporter: and if someone were living right on top of this, they'd be at risk. >> yes. >> reporter: geologist jerry black says sunshine state homeowners might be surprised to find out how common these are. what are the chances of someone having a home in central florida and living on top of something like this? >> very good.

not probably as close to the surface as this, but you definitely have cavities of this size all over the state of florida. >> reporter: fossils found in this sinkhole show it's been around since the ice age. but no different than the sinkholes we see opening up today. these are just a few of his pictures. but one thing they all have in common is water. >> rain water is going to turn into ground water and that's what's naturally acidic. that's the device that dissolves the limestone and will help create these cavities. >> reporter: what is unusual about this sinkhole, it's easy to get inside. called the devil's den, it's open to tourists for viewing and diving. and dive instructor prince johnson takes me under for a look. i find that this seemingly placid pool of water is anything but. >> the water has gone down considerably because of the aquifer, but it's also risen when we've had hurricanes and tropical storms, it has risen

another 45 feet. >> reporter: 45 feet? >> 45 feet. >> reporter: so the water is constantly going up and down depending on drought and hurricane. >> right. >> reporter: down here it's easy to see how fluctuating ground water has silently wreaked havoc. i passed by limestone boulders as big as cars sitting on the bottom. these same forces are still at work, compounded by the demand for fresh water. >> it is progressively dropping yearly. and that's basically over the whole state of florida. an aquifer is getting lower and lower. >> reporter: perhaps most striking to me, how appearances of this sinkhole are so misleading. a single beam of sunlight reveals the cavern is even bigger below the water line, with tunnels and passageways carved deep into the darkness. but most disturbing could be the view from up top. the round open is deceptively small. little indication of the cavern that's just beneath my feet. until a hole like this opens up, there's really no warning, is

there? >> correct. it is that random and that sudden. and it could happen, obviously, overnight or at any time. >> reporter: it can and it does. with thousands of sinkholes opening up in florida every year. david mattingly, cnn, florida. >> how's that for scary? >> that is a crazy picture. >> stay with us. "early start" after this quick break. ♪ ♪

lebron james and dwyane wade continue to lead the heat as they steamroll through the nba. >> out of their minds. vince joins us now this morning for more on the heat's really dominant streak.

>> yes, it's very impressive. some nba teams may go a week or so without a loss. the miami have not dropped a game in over a month. the defending nba champs kept it rolling monday night in minnesota. 97-81 the final. lebron james shakes off a sore left knee. scored 20 points to go along with ten rebounds. but it was dwyane wade doing the heavy lifting for the heat. 32 points, ten assists, seven rebounds. miami made it a franchise record 15 straight wins and they'll shoot for 16 in a row wednesday at home to struggling orlando. monday in waco, texas, baylor's brittney griner was honored on senior night and then put on a show in her final regular season home game, including her first dunk on her home floor since her freshman year. the 6'8" senior setting a big 12 single game record with 50 points in beating kansas state, moving your top ranked lady bears to 29-1. and the wait is over. the golf boys releasing their

second music video. ♪ better watch out kids ain't afraid to cry boohoo hoo hoo yummy to my tummy got my spf on ♪ >> the golf boys are pga tour players bubba watson, ben crane, rickie fowler, and hunter mahan, obviously with lots of down time between tournaments. and finally this. monday was world tennis day. during an exhibition at madison square garden, rafael nadal plucking ben stiller out of the crowd to participate, matching him up against 9-year-old rebecca suarez and stiller went mcenroe on her, trash talking his opponent before rebecca actually had the last word. coming up with terrific shots like that one. what great form. and eventually rebecca made the actor pay with a tremendous return that handcuffs stiller.

all of this before celebrating victory and soaking in the ovation from the new york city crowd. so well-done. want more sports? we remind you, visit bleacherreport.com where you can find out what joe flacco's new record deal means for other quarterbacks around the nfl. i'll tell you what it means. it means lots of money for those unsigned big star quarterbacks. >> it means joe flacco is picking up lunch next time we go out. our thanks to you. 54 minutes past the hour. picture this. harrison ford anchoring the news. we're going to explain that. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly! [ male announcer ] bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on.

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